Using B₄C Nanoparticles to Enhance Thermal and Mechanical Response of Aluminum

Fareeha Ubaid; Penchal Reddy Matli; Rana Abdul Shakoor; Gururaj Parande; Vyasaraj Manakari; Adel Mohamed Amer Mohamed; Manoj Gupta

doi:10.3390/ma10060621

Using B₄C Nanoparticles to Enhance Thermal and Mechanical Response of Aluminum

Materials (Basel). 2017 Jun 6;10(6):621. doi: 10.3390/ma10060621.

Authors

Fareeha Ubaid¹, Penchal Reddy Matli², Rana Abdul Shakoor³, Gururaj Parande⁴, Vyasaraj Manakari⁵, Adel Mohamed Amer Mohamed⁶, Manoj Gupta⁷

Affiliations

¹ Center for Advanced Materials, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar. fareeha.ubaid@qu.edu.qa.
² Center for Advanced Materials, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar. penchal.matli@qu.edu.qa.
³ Center for Advanced Materials, Qatar University, Doha 2713, Qatar. shakoor@qu.edu.qa.
⁴ Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Petroleum and Mining Engineering, Suez University, Suez 43721, Egypt. gururaj.parande@u.nus.edu.
⁵ Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Petroleum and Mining Engineering, Suez University, Suez 43721, Egypt. mbvyasaraj@u.nus.edu.
⁶ Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117576, Singapore. adel.mohamed25@yahoo.com.
⁷ Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Faculty of Petroleum and Mining Engineering, Suez University, Suez 43721, Egypt. mpegm@nus.edu.sg.

Abstract

In this work, Al-B₄C nanocomposites were produced by microwave sintering and followed by hot extrusion processes. The influence of ceramic reinforcement (B₄C) nanoparticles on the physical, microstructural, mechanical, and thermal characteristics of the extruded Al-B₄C nanocomposites was investigated. It was observed that the density decreased and porosity increased with an increase in B₄C content in aluminum matrix. The porosity of the composites increased whereas density decreased with increasing B₄C content. Electron microscopy analysis reveals the uniform distribution of B4C nanoparticles in the Al matrix. Mechanical characterization results revealed that hardness, elastic modulus, compression, and tensile strengths increased whereas ductility decreases with increasing B₄C content. Al-1.0 vol. % B₄C nanocomposite exhibited best hardness (135.56 Hv), Young's modulus (88.63 GPa), and compression/tensile strength (524.67/194.41 MPa) among the materials investigated. Further, coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of composites gradually decreased with an increase in B₄C content.

Keywords: Al-B4C nanocomposites; hot extrusion; mechanical properties; microwave sintering; thermal expansion.